A horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up for 1 or 2 players, Hyper Duel features 7 challenging levels. The game also has an impressive array of power-ups, including one that is essentially a second 'drone' ship that is almost identical to the players' own. Hyper Duel also has a unique feature in that players can hold down a button and transform their ships in large robots; In robot form the players' firepower is drastically increased but the weapon no longer only fires forwards, and will track the players' joystick movements. The robots will return to ship form once the button is released.